Mercury News
PHOENIX -- It's time for the Giants to step up their game, and they know it.
No more bobbles on the infield. No more long, hopeless sprints for their lumbering outfielders. No more charity.
The Giants traveled to Denver after a 6-5, 12-inning loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday afternoon, hoping to cling to a Colorado Rockies club that has a 12-3 record, a four-game lead in the National League West and a freight train of momentum.
"We know they're playing well," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "And we're not playing our best ball. We're still making mistakes, but we're winning series, and that's what's important."
They can't hope for the same result if they give extra outs to the Rockies. So it is important that the Giants eliminate mistakes such as the dropped throw by shortstop Miguel Tejada that led to Arizona's tying run in the eighth inning.
The Diamondbacks won it when a tiring Dan Runzler issued two walks in the 12th and Stephen Drew singled through the right side against Javier Lopez.
But the real lapse came four innings earlier when Tejada tried to tag Xavier Nady before the ball arrived from catcher Buster Posey on a two-out steal attempt. (Nady was credited with a stolen base). Jeremy Affeldt gave up two well-placed ground-ball singles as Arizona tied the score.
The mistake took away a victory for Madison Bumgarner, who settled down after Arizona's three-run uprising in the third and lasted into the seventh. It also made it tough for the Giants to enjoy their power-packed rally in the sixth, when Posey and Pablo Sandoval hit back-to-back home runs to put them ahead. "We don't accept it," said Bochy, asked about the impact of defensive mistakes in most of their losses. "We know with Cody (Ross) and (Andres) Torres out, we may not have quite the speed in the outfield. But we don't accept that we'll give up a game on an error." It's the Giants' good fortune that they have their top three starters -- Tim Lincecum, Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Cain -- lined up to pitch at Coors Field. The back end of the rotation had become a concern, with Bumgarner's inability to avoid the big inning and Barry Zito's sagging velocity. Ryan Vogelsong will replace Zito in the rotation after the left-hander was placed on the disabled list with a midfoot sprain. At least Bumgarner ended his afternoon on an upswing as he retired seven of the final eight batters he faced. The 21-year-old left-hander acknowledged he was in need of a confidence boost. "I felt today was a huge step forward for me from where I'd been," said Bumgarner, who gave up a two-run triple to Drew in the third. "I started to believe in myself a little more. That's what I'd been lacking." Bochy sensed as much. That's why he kept Bumgarner in the game after Justin Upton hit a rocket for a home run in the fifth that put Arizona up 4-1. "He's a strong kid, tough-minded," Bochy said. "I wanted him to get this under his belt because we'll need him to get going for us. When you give up runs in a couple starts, maybe you start thinking about it. So I thought this was a big outing for him." It wasn't a great day for Pat Burrell, whose average stands at .190 after going 0 for 3 with two strikeouts. Burrell, Brandon Belt and Tejada -- the Nos. 6-8 hitters -- combined to go 0 for 12 with six strikeouts. Two or three guys had rough days today," Bochy said. It's possible the Giants have seen enough to realize Belt needs more seasoning at Triple-A Fresno. With Ross expected to be activated within a day or two, they could decide to keep backup outfielder Darren Ford a little longer and send down Belt instead. Belt said he knows his window to prove he deserves to stay is shrinking. "Hopefully I put it together sooner rather than later," he said. "It's hard to put that out of your mind. I just need to have more quality at-bats, get the confidence up and get stuff to start falling into place." The Giants also would like to keep the Rockies from cementing their place atop the division. "If they stay that hot all year, good for them," said Aubrey Huff, who hit his first home run of the season. "They're playing great ball. Hopefully we can go in there and slow them down a little bit."
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